ESL Arena heads to Wacken Open Air 2018

ICS, the organizer of the Wacken Open Air festival, and ESL join forces to bring a themed experience to the metalheads at Wacken Open Air this year, that brings the worlds of music and esports together at a music festival for the very first time. In addition to a Free-2-Play area for festival-goers, there will be daily action for all interested fans at Wacken.

From Wednesday, 1st of August, the 1,800 square meter esports Village will open its doors, with the first tournaments kicking off alongside the festival itself. Metalheads can faceoff in games like PUBG, League of Legends and more while having the chance to win prizes in the process. Additional spectacular matches will be held, that will see esports professionals and the bands at Wacken clash to the roaring sounds of the festival!

Ralf Reichert, CEO of ESL, about heading to Wacken with ESL Arena:
“The medium of computer games is more and more mainstream in all areas of life, as the music has been now for many years. An iconic, multi-day music festival like Wacken is a very interesting opportunity to test the esports phenomenon in a new setting and take it into a new environment.”

Holger Hübner, CEO of ICS Festival Service GmbH, about this collaboration:
“Like many games, heavy metal creates fantasy worlds. Sabaton’s collaboration with World of Tanks is just one example of how much the two categories have in common. Naturally, music remains at the heart of Wacken Open Air, but we have a very close relationship with our community, so we can react to developments. We’re always open to new ideas. Of course, it also makes us proud to be pioneering the world’s first esports theme experience at a music festival, so we are very glad to have ESL as a most capable partner that is setting the international standard in esports.”

Wacken Open Air, the largest heavy metal festival in the world, will take place from August 2-4 this year. It has consistently been sold out with 75,000 visitors in recent years. About 5,000 tickets are currently still available for this year’s edition.

We are looking forward meeting you in Wacken!

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